


That's What I'm Here For

by Hidetouken



Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: M/M, Sick Character, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-20
Updated: 2018-08-20
Packaged: 2019-06-29 23:42:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15739698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hidetouken/pseuds/Hidetouken
Summary: Hide wakes up in less than ideal shape. Kaneki's there to help.





	That's What I'm Here For

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a request I got for sick Hide

The blaring of the alarm next to the bed seemed to beat in time with the throbbing of his head. _When did the damn thing become so loud?_ Hide wondered while he lifted a heavy arm to swat at it in attempts to turn it off. He groaned when he noticed that the poudning in his head didn’t stop along with the sound. It wasn’t just that; though he felt all sorts of off. The pain in his head was accompanied by a searing in his throat and he ached from head to toe making it feel like he was being weighed down into the bed. To top it all off he felt like he was sweltering under his sheets so he kicked them off, not liking the effort it took to do so. 

_ Welp this isn’t good _ he thought to himself as part of his mind remembered that there had been some sort of flu going around his office recently. Hide didn’t have time to be sick right now though; there was an important meeting today about how to convince resistant members of the public to live in peace with the ghouls and he was kind of considered the leader of that particular movement in the TSC. He  _ had _ to be there.

Determined, Hide pushed himself up into a sitting position and closed his eyes when he felt the resulting head rush. He waited for the sparks of light to clear from his head before dragging  himself to his feet and sighed with relief when his shaky legs decided that they would in fact hold him up.  _ Good, I can make it through the day like this _ he told himself as he made his way out of the bedroom towards the kitchen. 

Kaneki was already up, sitting at the table and sipping some coffee while combing through one of the many books he was in the process of reading. Despite how terrible he felt Hide smiled at the sight before he dropped his heavy body into one of the remaining chairs. Getting food could wait he needed a minute to recoup from the walk over. 

“Good morning,” he heard Kaneki say quietly as he quickly glanced up from his book. 

“Mornin’,” Hide answered, displeased by how raspy his voice came out. By the looks of Kaneki’s face it hadn’t gone unnoticed. Kaneki closed the book he was reading and gently slide it to the side. Yup, he definitely noticed.

“You okay?” he asked, peering at Hide with a mildly worried look on his face. 

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Hide answered, waving an arm as if to dismiss Kaneki’s concern. The action worked against him as it threw his balance off and he had to slam his hand down onto the table to steady himself.  _ So much for smoothing things over _ .

“You look pale,” Kaneki commented, seeming to ignore Hide’s actions, before reaching a hand across the table to brush up against Hide’s forehead. Hide for his part couldn’t resist leaning into his boyfriend’s hand. He closed his eyes and sighed at the feeling of the cool hand against his face, and he heard Kaneki tsk from across the table.

“Hide, you’re warm,” He said nonchalantly before withdrawing his hand. Hide mourned the feeling.

“You’re staying home today.”

Hide snapped his eyes opened and looked over at Kaneki. 

“I can’t, Kaneki. There’s an important meeting today I have to be at!” He rasped, “I’ll be fine! I promise.”

Kaneki didn’t seem to be buying it and Hide couldn’t blame him. Truth be told he wasn’t even sure himself that he could make it through the day in the condition he was in, but he’d damned if he didn’t try.

To prove his point Hide stood up, intending to start getting ready for the day. He immediately regretted it though as the room span around him as his sluggish body tried to adjust to the sudden change in position. He swayed and reached to grab the side of the counter hoping to steady himself but missed. 

**“** _ Hide -  _ **“** He heard Kaneki exclaim as he braced for impact. It never came though; instead he felt the warm embrace of arms around him as he vaguely registered the sound of a chair clattering in the background. 

“Thanks,” he mumbled in defeat as Kaneki carefully helped him up, keeping him steady until he could stand on his own. “Maybe I should stay home after all,” he laughed bitterly. There was no point in arguing at this point if he couldn’t even stand up to get himself breakfast on his own.

“Yeah, you should,” He heard Kaneki sigh before brushing a piece of hair off of Hide’s damp forehead, “Lets get you back to bed, okay?” 

Hide only nodded and allowed Kaneki to carefully lead him back to their shared bedroom. He sighed with relief as soon as his body hit the soft mattress. 

“I’ll be back in a minute,” He heard Kankei say. He mumbled in response and buried his head into the pillows hoping it would help it stop throbbing. It didn’t, but at least the pillows were soft. 

In the short time that Kaneki was out of the room Hide must have drifted off, his body desperate for rest. One moment he was trying to get comfortable and anther moment he felt a hand gently run through his hair as someone quietly spoke. 

“Hide, you need to wake up for a moment,” he heard, Kaneki’s voice soft and filled with an emotion that Hide couldn’t quite place. Something between loving and concerned he guessed. Groaning, he rolled over and opened his eyes to find Kaneki kneeling down besides the bed holding a glass of water and a few pills, “C’mon Hide, take these. They’ll help you fever.”

Hide nodded and pushed himself up on one of his arms and accepted the pills with his other hand and popped them into his mouth. Kaneki handed him the glass and he took a few sips to swallow the pills before letting himself fall back into the bed. 

“Can I sleep now?” He asked tiredly. Kaneki nodded and brushed his hair out of his face again.

“Yes Hide, get some sleep. I’ll be right here if you need me.” Hide nodded and closed his eyes and drifted off.

 

When he awoke later he found that he somehow felt worse than before. Everything was aching and he felt like he was on fire. He moaned quietly and reached out a hand searching for Kaneki. It took a few moments but he eventually felt Kaneki’s cool hand against his own overheated one.

“Hide, what’s wrong?” he heard a concerned voice ask. He didn’t open his eyes to look but he knew that Kaneki was wearing that expression on his face where his eyebrows were creased in worry and his mouth was pulled down into a frown. Hide hated making Kaneki make that face. 

“‘S too hot, Kaneki,” he groaned trying to kick away the sheets that had been placed over him while he slept. The hand that was holding his was suddenly gone and a moment later he felt the sheets being lifted away and he sighed in relief as he felt the cool air hit his body. Footsteps then left the room and Hide whined, wanting Kaneki to stay with him. He tried to get up to follow the other out of the room but found his body to weak to actually follow through and he gave up with an annoyed huff.

His loneliness was short lived though; as he heard stept returning to the room that were soon followed by the feeling of something cool being draped over his forehead. He blinked his eyes open and gave Kaneki a questioning but grateful look.

“It’s just an ice pack, Hide,” Kaneki explained with a small smile, “I thought it might help with your fever.” Hide returned Kaneki’s smile and closed his eyes again with a sigh.

“This sucks,” he mumbled into his pillow, earning him a sympathetic hum from his boyfriend. “Stay with me?” He asked as he started to drift off. He felt the bed shift on the other side as Kaneki climbed in and repositioned Hide’s head and pillow so that it was on Kaneki’s lap. “Of course.”

Just as he was drifting off to sleep a thought suddenly occurred to him.

“Shit,” He mumbled

“What is it?” Kaneki asked, worry evident in his voice

“I need to call out of work,” Hide explained around a weak cough

Kaneki smiled softly and leaned down to give Hide a kiss on the cheek. “I already did that for you,” He answered, “I called while you were asleep and explained that you were too sick to make it in today. They said they would postpone the meeting until you come back so you can take your time recovering.”

“I can’t believe that they all have to wait now,” Hide complained, “It’s too important to push off.”

“Hide, I know you want to hurry and up and smooth over relations between humans and ghouls but you need to take care of yourself first.” Kaneki chided while combing his hands through Hide’s damp hair. “A few more days isn’t a lot in the long run. Besides you can’t help anyone in the shape you’re in right now.” 

Kaneki was right, and Hide knew it, but there was a part of him that couldn’t accept it. He wanted a place where they all could live in peace, where  _ Kaneki  _ could live in peace. Any delays were too many for him to accept. 

“You’re thinking something negative right now aren’t you?” He heard Kaneki ask, his hand moving from hair to brush against his cheek instead, “Think of yourself for once and get some rest, Hide.” 

Hide sighed and nodded, if not a bit begrudgingly. He might be sick but that didn’t mean his priorities had to change. But the idea of sleep was too tempting with how his head pounded and his eyes burned with exhaustion.

Giving into his bodies begging Hide closed his eyes and let himself slip drift off

 

When he awoke he was disappointed to realize that he didn’t feel any better than he had before, but he forced his eyes open despite their protests. He blinked a few times to clear the sleep from his vision and groggily looked around. His head was still resting on Kaneki’s lap, who was quietly reading the book that had been sitting on the nightstand from the night before. It seemed Kaneki hadn’t noticed that he woke up yet so Hide shifted to try and sit himself up. 

Finally noticing that Hide was awake, and trying to get himself up, Kaneki set his book aside helped lift hide up into a sitting position, adjusting the pillows so that he could lean up against them rather than the hard headboard.

“Feeling any better?” He asked quietly as he brushed a hand against Hide’s cheek to check his temperature.

“No,” Hide sighed, “Still feel like death.”

Kaneki gave him a sympathetic smiled and moved his hand up to straighten out Hide’s hair. “You were only asleep for a couple of hours, so I’m not surprised,” He said after a few moments, “You probably just need more rest.

Hide whined. He didn’t  _ want  _ to rest. He wanted to get on with his work. Or at least get up and spend his impromptu day off doing something more interesting than sleep. 

“I don’t want to sleep right now,” he responded, crossing his arms and pouting. Kaneki chuckled with affection at the act and withdrew his hand.

“Well, you never ate breakfast and it’s near lunchtime. Why don’t I make you something to eat? If you’re feeling up to it that is,” Kaneki offered.

Hide thought it over for a moment. He didn’t have much of an appetite but he knew it would probably do his exhausted body some good to get some fuel in it.

“Sure,” he finally answered, “but something bland please,” He added on a moment later. Better safe than sorry.

Kaneki nodded and moved to get out of the bed. He didn't’ make it far though because Hide reached out and grabbed his sleeve before he could get out of reach. 

“I want to go into the other room with you,” Hide explained sheepishly when Kaneki turned around and gave him a questioning look, “I’d get up myself but I honestly don’t think I can make it own my own,” He explained a moment later, his face flushing in embarrassment. He didn’t like to admit how awful he was feeling but that was overode  by his desire to not be stuck on his own and bored in bed away from Kaneki. 

He had intended for his boyfriend to just help him up and walk to the sofa but before he could ask he felt a pair of strong arms under him lifting him up from the bed

“ _ Kanki, I can walk - _ “ He exclaimed around a cough, but Kaneki shushed him.

“I know but this saves you the energy,” Kaneki answered. Hide could swear there was the faintest smirk on his face when he said it, “Besides, I like getting to help you like this.”

Hide groaned in embarrassment and hid his face against Kaneki’s chest. His boyfriend wasn’t the most affectionate but every now and then he chose to be and it always made Hide’s heart leap into his chest like he was just a school boy again. 

Yet despite his embarrassment Hide didn’t argue back and he let Kaneki carry him through the bedroom and into the small living room set up they had in their apartment. Kaneki set him down gently onto the couch and wrapped a blanket that had been draped over the back of it around him, which Hide immediately struggled out of. Even with how cool they kept their apartment he could still feel heat radiating around him and the last thing he wanted was to be smothered under a blanket.

Kaneki sighed but didn’t try and wrap him back up and instead leaned down to give Hide a kiss on the forehead before reaching over to the side table and handing Hide the remote to the television.

“I’ll just be in the kitchen, okay?”

Hide nodded and accepted the remote. He turned on the tv and flipped through until he found some science documentary that he could zone out to while he waited for Kaneki to return. He was too tired to follow along with what was happening on the screen save for the changing colors and seemingly muffled voices being emitted from the program. 

He must have fallen asleep to the show because he awoke from a strange dream where he was floating in colorful bursts of light. He felt himself beings sucked towards something dark and massive when he felt a hand shaking him awake. 

He opened his eyes blearily to see Kaneki kneeling down in front of him with a bowl of something steaming in his hand.

“Sorry to wake you, Hide, but you food’s ready,” He said as he removed his hand from Hide’s shoulder and set the bowl down, “Are you ready to eat something?”

Hide nodded and allowed Kaneki to help him sit up straight, and he sunk in against the back of the couch. He head out his hand for the bowl and Kaneki handed it over to him, careful to make sure Hide had a good hold on it before removing his hands. Hide couldn't’ blame him for the caution given how his arms shook at the weight.  _ God was he really this weak? _

He peered into the bowl and noticed it was just plain old rice porridge. He never liked the stuff but it was always what his fathers had fed him when he was sick and the fact that Kaneki had chosen the same thing made him smile. He lifted the spoon to his lips with a shake hand and blew on the contents before tentatively taking a bite. It went down easily enough and more importantly it stayed there, so Hide continued to eat the contents of the bowl while Kaneki watched anxiously.

“It’s fine, Kaneki,” Hide said after a few more bites. He was guessing the look on Kaneki’s face was due to worry about whether or not he had managed to make something edible, after all he couldn’t taste test it. Kaneki sighed in relief and smiled before getting up to sit next to Hide on the couch. Hide immediately adjusted his position so that he was leaning up against Kaneki instead of the back of the sofa. 

When he had finished about half of the bowl Hide shakily set it down on the end table. He didn’t have the appetite to try and finish the rest and figured that at least some was better than none. Kaneki glanced over at him but didn’t question his choice. 

“Why are you so far away,” Hide suddenly asked, gesturing to the space between them on the sofa. Kaneki looked shrugged sheepishly before taking the hint and sliding over towards Hide and wrapping an arm around his shoulders.

“I thought with your fever you would wouldn’t want the excess heat,” Kaneki explained and Hide laughed raspily.

“Ken, you know that was a rhetorical question, right?” He laughed. Kaneki blushed and looked away before mumbling an answer defensively. “Well there was a reason for it so i thought i should tell you.”

“Okay, okay,” Hide said as he reached up a shaky hand to ruffle Kaneki’s hair to placate him. Kaneki smiled and leaned into the touch for a moment before gently removing Hide’s hand from his hair.

“Now that you’re doing teasing me, do you want to watch a movie or something?” he asked, already picking up the remote from the cushions where Hide had lazily left it. Hide didn’t think he actually had it in him to stay awake for a movie but staying here with Kaneki was too good to miss out on.

“Sure, but I can’t promise you I’ll be awake at the end,” he answered, already closing his eyes.

“Sounds fair,” Kaneki laughed. He then set down the remote and coaxed Hide to lay back down before he slid down behind him. Hide sighed contentedly and closed his eyes as he felt Kaneki pick up the remote to start searching for something to watch.

Hide couldn’t be sure since he could barely keep his eyes open long enough to watch a scene, but it seemed like Kaneki had put on some sort of animated movie for them to watch, which was a strange for Kaneki to choose but he assumed it was for his own benefit since he liked them more. True to his word though, Hide fell asleep after the first few minutes, secure in Kaneki’s arms.

When he woke up the first thing that registered in his mind was that he was absolutely  _ freezing _ . He weakly searched around for the blanket from earlier but couldn’t find it and his head hurt too much to open his eyes. 

“What’s wrong?” He heard Kaneki ask, concern evident in his voice.

“I’m cold,” He answered shortly, his throat hurting too much to bother with more words. He felt Kaneki shift around and a few moments later he felt the weight of the blanket weigh down on him. Kaneki thoroughly tucked him in before settling back down behind him and rubbing his hand up and down Hide’s arm. 

“Better?”

“Not really,” he answered honestly, pulling the blanket around him tighter anyways. He felt Kaneki wrap his arms around him from behind in what was an unsuccessful attempt to help. “Can I have another blanket?” He asked after a moment of shivering under the one he already had.

“No, sorry Hide,” Kaneki sighed, “You’re fever too high and I don’t want to feed it.”

Hide whined in response and rolled over away from the long forgotten movie that was almost over and into Kaneki’s chest. “Hold me then.”

He felt Kaneki smile as he bent his head down to place a kiss on the top of Hide’s head.    
“Okay.”

Despite the chills, Hide’s fatigue eventually won out and he drifted back off to sleep with his head laid on Kaneki’s chest where he could feel it rise and fall with each breath.

 

The next time he woke up he found himself back in bed, the room dark with little light coming in from the window. He was pleased to find that if nothing else the chills he had before had gone away, and rubbed his eyes groggily. He didn’t notice the hand brushing through his hair until it stopped, and he tried to blink away the darkness to find Kaneki’s face.

“Are you awake?” He heard a voice ask quietly, low enough that it wouldn’t have woken him if he hadn’t of been already.

“Mmmm,”

“Just in time to go back to bed then,” He heard Kaneki answer, a smile evident in his voice. Hide didn’t bother asking what time it was since it hardly mattered. He knew it was night by the lighting and by the fact that Kaneki had apparently changed out of his sweater and into a t-shirt. 

“A whole day wasted” He grumbled to himself, still bitter that he had been stuck at home and even more so that he had spent the majority of it sleeping. 

“Resting isn’t a waste, Hide,”

“It is when there are more interesting things to do.”

Kaneki laughed and Hide smiled. At least he had accomplished one thing. 

“Why don’t we get you changed into something else,” Kaneki said after a moment, “You’ve been sweating in those pajamas all day there’s no way they feel any good to wear.”

Hide hadn’t really noticed but he decided against arguing and simply nodded his head in response. He felt the hand that had been resting on his head leave as Kaneki got out of bed to rifle through their draws to find something for Hide to wear. He returned a few moments later and dropped the clothes onto the bed, causing a soft puff of air to brush against Hide’s skin.

“Okay, you have to get up,” Kaneki said, already sliding his arms under Hide and helping him into a sitting position, “Lift your arms up.”

Hide compiled and Kaneki gently tugged his damp shirt up over his head and uncharacteristically threw it to some unknown part of the room to be dealt with later. 

“Can you stand?” Kaneki asked, his hands still holding Hide upright.

He considered the question for a moment before answering. “Probably,” he said, “I think.”

Kaneki nodded before helping Hide up, holding his arms firmly to keep him steady just in case. 

Together they managed to get the old pair of Hide’s pajama pants off and the new ones on before Kaneki helped Hide get settled back into bed.

“Will you read to me?” Hide asked when he felt Kaneki climb back into bed besides him. Usually he wouldn’t ask on account of the fact that he didn’t share Kaneki’s taste in books and wouldn’t understand what was going on halfway through a story, but he wanted to hear Kaneki’s voice. It was his favorite sound.

“Sure, Hide,” Kaneki obliged, turning on the small bedside lamp and picking up the book he had left there earlier. He began to read and Hide sighed at the sound of his voice. It was soft, softer than he usually would speak, and it carried the words around Hide, lulling him into peaceful sleep.

This time when the alarm went off, Hide’s head didn’t beat along with it, and he almost sighed with relief. He reached over and shut it off before sitting up in bed.  He still felt too warm, the fever still lingering, and he still felt a scratching in his throat, but his body didn’t protest from his movement so he marked that as an improvement. 

Besides him Kaneki stirred, apparently having decided to sleep in later than usual with Hide rather than get up early like he usually would.

“G’morning,” Kaneki yawned as he moved to sit up with Hide and stretched his arms, “how’re you feeling?”

“A little better,” he answered, leaning back to rest his head in the crook of Kaneki’s neck, “Thanks for taking care of me yesterday,” he said after a moment.

Kaneki turned his head and kissed Hide on the cheek.

“That’s what I’m here for.”


End file.
